College Student Gets 15 Million Miles for Hacking United Airlines

Georgia Institute of Technology student Ryan Pickren used to get in trouble for hacking websites—in 2015, he hacked rival University of Georgia's online calendar and almost spent 15 years in prison.

But now he’s being rewarded for his skills. Pickren participated in United Airlines’ Bug Bounty Program and earned 15 million United miles. At two cents a mile, that’s about $300,000 worth.

United’s white hat hacking program invites computer experts to legally hack their systems, paying up to 1 million United miles to hackers who can reveal major security flaws. At that rate, we can presume Pickren reported as many as 15 severe bugs.